Dr. Andrew Chaney, pastor of Greenwood’s First Presbyterian Church, has experienced a growing appreciation for the Mississippi Delta since last January.
Chaney, 53, had settled with his wife, Christine, and three children — Luke, Caroline and Anderson — in Springfield, Missouri, when the opportunity to become pastor at First Presbyterian emerged.
“I heard about this opportunity and wasn’t really interested in making a move because of my children. Two of them were in high school, and another had just gone to college in Missouri,” he said. “But when I met the committee, they really captured my heart.”
He is a third-generation pastor, and his father served as lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chaney’s hometown of Livingston, Alabama.
He has several degrees, including a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary, and is working on a doctorate in theology from the Oxford University Summer Institute for Theology in Oxford, England.
After more than 20 years in ministry, he said he is still learning about life.
“I’ve got so much to learn about being a pastor in general and also about God,” he said. “No one can ever know God fully. God is always unknown.”
Although his move to Greenwood was unexpected, he has become invigorated by the city and his congregation.
“Unlike corporate jobs, the church and ministry involve something that’s supernatural,” he said. “It’s the calling of the Holy Spirit that grabs a pastor and says, ‘This congregation wants you to come and lead them and be their pastor.’ When I felt that, along with them, we were a really good match. I have been so happy to be here in the Delta.”
He said Greenwood has a “welcoming, compassionate, kind culture” that values learning about God and self-improvement. “This congregation is so full of peace,” he said. “The people really are interested in becoming Christ-like.”
He considers his predecessor, Dr. Rusty Douglas, to be a mentor and credits his understanding of Greenwood to Douglas.
“I said to him, ‘I don’t understand how you can come from Buckhead, Georgia, which is a bustling place — how you could come to Greenwood and feel a sense of professional stability and fulfillment that you had there in that town with so much,’” said Chaney. “He said, ‘Well, I traded the convenience for relationships.’”
Douglas told Chaney that in time, Chaney would understand what is special about Greenwood. “I felt that’s what drew me in, when I felt the special authenticity of the people,” Chaney said. “That was really attractive to me, and I began to learn what that meant and why he stayed here for so long. Over the past year, I’ve kind of experienced it. I see why and how someone can be fulfilled in a small town.”
He said that it took his family time to adjust, but they have integrated with Greenwood successfully, adding that his family likes the “sweetness and kindness of the people.”
He said that he sees his responsibility as pastor to be a “shepherd” for those seeking guidance rather than being a problem solver.
“A lot of times people come to me, and they say, ‘I’ve got a problem’ or ‘I’ve got a concern in my life. I feel like I’ve gone astray,’” he said. “It’s not so much as solving the problem. It is more of me listening to them and being there as a pastor to hear them, to show that I care, to show that God cares and to just hear and let them talk a lot.”
He said First Presbyterian focuses on the idea of the congregation as a family and exploring ways to serve the community.
“We are always looking for new ways to do missions, new ways to reach out and serve people,” he said. “We never want to just replicate the prior year. God is always changing and active and calling people to new things.”
He said he hopes to extend the welcoming attitude of the church to all who seek it.
“The church is going to fully embody a hospitality that welcomes people in a time of suspicion, when COVID has made people kind of a little bit guarded,” he said. In fact, he said the church will go “overboard” in welcoming people.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwa-rds@gwcommonwealth.com.
